522 FRA GMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



Still, a formative power has obviously here come into 

 play which did not manifest itself in either the liquid or 

 the vapor. The question now is, was not the power 

 " potential " iiiboth of them, requiring only the proper con- 

 ditions of temperature to bring it into action? Again I 

 answer for myself in the affirmative. I am, however, quite 

 willing to discuss with Mr. Martineau the alternative hy- 

 pothesis, that an imponderable formative soul unites itself 

 with the substance after its escape from the liquid state. 

 If he should espouse this hypothesis, then I should demand 

 of him an immediate exercise of that Vortellungs- 

 fahigkeit, with which, in my efforts to think clearly, I can 

 never dispense. I should ask, at what moment did the 

 soul come in? Did it enter at once or by degrees; perfect 

 from the first, or growing and perfecting itself contem- 

 poraneously with its own handiwork? I should also ask 

 whether it is localized or diffused? Does it move about as 

 a lonely builder, putting the bits of solid water in their 

 places as soon as the proper temperature has set in? or is 

 it distributed through the entire mass of the crystal? If the 

 latter, then the soul has the shape of the crystal; but if the 

 former, then I should inquire after its shape. Has it legs 

 or arms? If not, I would ask it to be made clear to me how 

 a thing without these appliances can act so perfectly the 

 part of a builder? (I insist on definition, and ask unusual 

 questions, if haply I might thereby banish unmeaning 

 words.) What were the condition and residence of the 

 soul before it joined the crystal? What becomes of it 

 when the crystal is dissolved? Why should a particular 

 temperature be needed before it can exercise its vocation? 

 Finally, is the problem before us in any way simplified by 

 the assumption of its existence? I think it probable that, 

 after a full discussion of the question, Mr. Martineau 

 would agree with me in ascribing the building power 

 displayed in the crystal to the bits of water themselves. 

 At all events, I should count upon his sympathy so far 

 as to believe that he would consider any one unman- 

 nerly who would denounce me for rejecting this notion 

 of a separate soul, and for holding the snow-crystal to be 

 " matter." 



But then what an astonishing addition is here made to 

 the powers of matter! Who would have dreamed, without 

 actually seeing its work, that such a power was locked up 



